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- On Chicago's West Side, there is a school for the city's most at-risk youth - the Moses Montefiore Academy. Most of the students at Montefiore have been kicked out of other schools for aggressive behavior, and many have been diagnosed with emotional disorders. "Last Chance High" takes viewers inside Montefiore's classrooms and into the homes of students who are one mistake away from being locked up or committed to a mental hospital.
- In May 2012, a grainy cellphone video emerged in a remote and deeply conservative village in northern Pakistan. The video showed four young women singing and clapping in a room as two young men danced to the music. The village elders saw the celebration as a blatant defiance of strict tribal customs that separate men and women at gatherings, and a decree was issued for those in the video and their families to be killed as their actions were deemed 'dishonorable.' The women and one of their sisters, aged just 12, were allegedly imprisoned for a month and tortured before being killed. The men went into hiding but three of their brothers were shot dead. Every year, nearly a thousand people are known to be killed in the name of honor in Pakistan. Many more go unreported, considered a part of everyday life - but the killings in Kohistan became national news after the surviving brother of the victims made it his mission to seek justice. Produced by Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Saad Zuberi, VICE News finds out some of the grimmest truths about the pervasive culture of so-called honor killings in the region
- In Germany, abortion is technically illegal under an ancient law from 1871. But women can get them without punishment in the first trimester after an abortion-certifying consultation and a mandatory, three-day waiting period. The procedure can only be performed by a certified doctor. Another law prevents doctors from advertising and even publicly explaining abortion procedures for example on their websites. Due to a new, more liberal government, the law is expected to be changed later this year, but the law regarding the procedure will not.
- The U.S. government hit a deadline last week to reunite more than 2,500 children separated from their parents under the Trump Administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy. VICE News gets rare access to what the torturous experience was like from separation to reunification for one family. In a powerful half-hour episode, "Zero Tolerance" uncovers the chaos and confusion created by a harsh policy the government was clearly not prepared to manage. From Texas to Alabama to Guatemala, VICE News follows one family trying to find a 7-year-old boy separated from his father.
- The Olympics are as much about money as they are about sports. Between merchandising, sponsorships, broadcasting rights, and construction of the Olympic venues themselves, there's a lot of money to be made. In the case of Russia's Winter Olympics in Sochi, there's more money to be made than ever before-especially if you're a friend of President Putin. The 2014 Winter Games have cost Russia about $50 billion, making them the most expensive in history. Corruption watchdogs say it's ordinary Russians who will end up footing the bill for this excess, not private investors as Putin has suggested. We went to Sochi to investigate the claims of corruption and kickbacks, tour the some of the most expensive Olympic venues ever built, and talk to Sochi residents who have been pushed aside to make room for Putin's man-made mountains of money.
- 2013– 25mTV EpisodeAs Barack Obama considers ways to enforce immigration laws "more humanely," VICE News travels to Guatemala to meet a deportee named Ray Jesus, who lives apart from his American wife and 5 American children. When Ray lived in the U.S., he was the family's breadwinner. Now they rely on welfare to get by. It turns out that deporting parents costs much more than the price of a one-way ticket home.
- An estimated 120,000 landmines still litter the Bosnian countryside since the end of the war there in 1995, making daily life a challenge for hundreds of thousands of people. In May, the worst floods in over a century dislodged countless mines and deposited them in new locations, from farm fields to the back yards of local residents. The flooding also unearthed previously undiscovered mass graves, making some citizens hopeful that they may finally be reunited with the remains of their lost loved ones. VICE News traveled to northern Bosnia to tag along with the team in charge of de-mining the countryside, and met residents still reeling from the horrors of war.
- VICE News correspondent Thomas Morton investigates Asian carp - a slimy, ugly, and often gargantuan species of fish that has taken over many waterways in the United States. First introduced in the US in the 1960s to control weeds and parasites at aquatic farms in Arkansas, the bottom feeders eventually escaped and made their way through the Mississippi River system, eating almost everything in their path and severely damaging ecosystems across the Midwest. Today, government officials are concerned that the fish will invade the Great Lakes, destroy more ecosystems, wreak havoc on the region's multibillion dollar fishing industry, and spread to almost every major waterway in the Northeast. VICE News travels across Illinois to see how people are dealing with the Asian carp invasion, visiting the Redneck Fishing Tournament - where the sole mission is to catch as many carp as possible - touring a processing plant trying to monetize the fish, and then heading to Chicago, where we learned that Asian carp are a symptom of a much larger issue.
- The Islamic State, a hardline Sunni jihadist group that formerly had ties to al Qaeda, has conquered large swathes of Iraq and Syria. Previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the group has announced its intention to reestablish the caliphate and has declared its leader, the shadowy Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the caliph. The lightning advances the Islamic State made across Syria and Iraq in June shocked the world. But it's not just the group's military victories that have garnered attention - it's also the pace with which its members have begun to carve out a viable state. Flush with cash and US weapons seized during its advances in Iraq, the Islamic State's expansion shows no sign of slowing down. In the first week of August alone, Islamic State fighters have taken over new areas in northern Iraq, encroaching on Kurdish territory and sending Christians and other minorities fleeing as reports of massacres emerged.
- West Africa is being plagued by a new outbreak of Ebola - a terrifying disease that causes its victims to bleed to death from the inside out. Ebola has no cure, and the latest epidemic is spreading fast. VICE News visited Liberia, where many feel the new outbreak began, borne from the bushmeat markets of Lofa. Western scientists feel that the consumption and preparation of meat from monkeys, fruit bats, and other forest animals is behind the transmission of Ebola, and possibly a new supervirus, which if left uncontrolled could kill a third of the world's population.
- Around midnight on May 3, Dana Seetahal, a prominent attorney and former senator in Trinidad and Tobago, had just left a casino in the capital of Port of Spain when her vehicle was stopped by another car blocking the road. A van pulled up alongside and let loose a burst of gunfire, killing her in a well orchestrated hit. Her murder was one of approximately 170 that have occurred in the Caribbean nation so far this year, putting it on course for one of the highest murder rates in the world. The country saw only 93 murders in 1999. Last year, there were 407. VICE News visited the slums of Port of Spain and spoke with police, activists, community leaders, and gangsters to understand the country's decade-plus spike in killings. Many of the murders are attributed to ruthless and politically connected street gangs who control territories that are sometimes no larger than a city block. The gangs fight over lucrative government contracts meant to provide social services and combat unemployment. But gang violence is merely a symptom of a bigger problem. Trinidad has become an important stop for drugs headed to West Africa and the United States. Many observers point to "the big fish" - the nameless political and business elites who are behind drug trafficking and the culture of endemic corruption and murder that come with it. They are accused of turning a country rich in oil and gas deposits into their own personal narco-state, fostering impunity through a web of bribes and murders. Unlike the profits from the energy industry, however, this phenomenon trickles all the way down to the street level.
- Mexico's notoriously violent drug cartels are diversifying. Besides trafficking narcotics, extorting businesses, and brutally murdering their rivals, cartels are now at work exploiting their country's precious number one export: oil. Every day as many as 10,000 barrels of crude oil are stolen from Mexico's state-run oil company, Pemex, through precarious illegal taps, which are prone to deadly accidents. Pemex estimates that it loses $5 billion annually in stolen oil, some of which ends up being sold over the border in US gas stations. As police fight the thieves, and the cartels fight each other, the number of victims caught in the battle for the pipelines continues to climb. VICE founder Suroosh Alvi travels to Mexico to see the effects of cartel oil theft firsthand.
- Until the civil war reached it two years ago, Aleppo was Syria's largest city and the country's commercial and industrial hub. Now the ancient city lies in ruins, 70 percent of its population has fled, and those who remain live under siege. Rebel-held areas are under constant bombardment by barrel bombs - crudely improvised explosive devices that are dropped from government aircraft. As rebel and government forces struggle for total victory, VICE filmmaker Medyan Dairieh followed the volunteers of Aleppo's Civil Defense, a civilian rescue organization, who risk their lives daily as the first responders to government airstrikes in a city seemingly abandoned by the outside world.
- Three years ago, an uprising against the Assad regime turned into what looked like a straightforward civil war between Syrian government forces and rebels. However, over time, what had started as a largely secular opposition movement began to take on more of a radical Islamist tone, with two al Qaeda offshoots -- the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra -- becoming the dominant forces on the ground across the rebel-held North.ISIS's policy of kidnapping journalists has made it almost impossible to report from within Syria. But one VICE filmmaker managed to secure unprecedented access to both al-Qaeda factions battling Syria's government forces, creating this remarkable portrait of the foreign volunteers and local Syrians willing to fight and die to establish a new caliphate on Europe's doorstep.
- In recent years, a small amount of hackers and gamers have been anonymously reporting fake hostage situations, shootings, and other violent crimes designed to send elite police units, like SWAT teams, to unsuspecting people at their residences. Swatting is a dangerous and expensive prank, which is easy to pull off. Swatters are utilizing easily accessible technology to mask or even alter the ID during calls to 911 dispatchers. With SWAT teams and paramilitary gear becoming the norm across small town America, these calls have predictably chaotic results. Despite the hyper-vigilance of America's law enforcement, authorities still struggle to defend themselves from the unlikeliest of threats - tech-savvy teenagers. Police militarization meets hacker culture as VICE News investigates the dangerous crime of swatting.
- In Jamaica, attacks, murder, and rape are common occurrences against LGBTI people, with little to no retribution or justice brought against those responsible. After being forced from shacks, derelict buildings, and their own families, many homeless LGBTI Jamaicans have found refuge in the storm drainage systems of Kingston - known locally as the gully. For trans girls and gay men unable or unwilling to hide their sexuality, the sense of community and relative safety the gully provides acts as a welcome sanctuary, and for many, a hope of change to come. VICE News traveled to the New Kingston area to see what LGBTI life is like in Jamaica - where just being who you are can mean living a life underground.
- Ultra-nationalist political parties scored unprecedented victories at the European elections, making the rise of the far-right in Europe impossible to ignore. Many of these groups, some of which are openly neo-Nazi, are gaining strength everywhere. In Sweden, there's been a sharp rise in political violence in the country, with crimes carried out by radical groups making headlines. However, what's unusual is that one of the most violent extremist organizations in Sweden aligns itself not with Nazism and the far-right, but with anti-fascism and the far-left. Known as the Revolutionary Front, this group of militant socialists aim to crush fascism by any means necessary. VICE News set out to try and find the Revolutionary Front, and to understand the unlikely rise of the militant far-left in Sweden.
- In Colombia, the heirs to Pablo Escobar's drug empire are conducting business as usual - though with a somewhat lower profile. Today's Medellin drug cartels are highly structured and run much like multinational corporations. But violent gangs operating in the city's slums provide the muscle; known as combos, they've carved Medellin into fiefdoms, imposing invisible borders between gang territory - borders that, when ignored, often get people killed. VICE News travelled to Medellin to meet gang members - along with top cartel leaders and assassins - who revealed the inner workings of the city's modern-day cocaine industry.
- Winnipeg is the capital of Manitoba, Canada - and for 16 of the past 33 years, it has also been the country's murder capital. The prairie city is home to just under 800,000 people, about 10 percent of whom are Aboriginal, meaning Winnipeg boasts the largest urban Aboriginal population in Canada. Largely impoverished and facing continual discrimination, the community has given rise to violent Aboriginal street gangs. VICE News went to Winnipeg to spend time with gang members and find out why they're linked to the majority of the city's murders.
- The Senate Intelligence Committee has released a blistering, 500-page report on the CIA's controversial detention and interrogation program, a document that committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said represents the most significant oversight effort in the history of the US Senate. The $40 million, five-year study concluded that CIA officials exaggerated the value of the intelligence they gleaned from dozens of "high-value detainees" held at black site prisons, where they were subjected to so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" such as sleep deprivation and waterboarding. The committee reviewed more than 6 million pages of top-secret CIA documents and found that the architect of the interrogation program was a retired Air Force psychologist named James Mitchell, an agency contractor who - according to news reports - personally waterboarded alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The Senate report does not identify Mitchell by name. He is referred to as "Contractor A" throughout the executive summary. Mitchell has a signed a non-disclosure agreement with the CIA and was unable to discuss his alleged role in the agency's enhanced interrogation program, but VICE News met up with him in suburban Florida to discuss the Senate's report and one of the darkest chapters of the war on terror. This is the first time Mitchell has ever appeared on camera.
- Syrian rebels had a bad year in 2013. While the mainstream rebel groups struggled to defend their front lines from the resurgent Assad regime, a renegade al Qaeda offshoot, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), launched a series of assaults. ISIS' attacks on the formerly-dominant Free Syrian Army (FSA) brigades came from behind, and led to the capture of their strongholds in rebel-held northern Syria, and the execution of their commanders. But now the rebels are fighting back. In a campaign supported by both the Saudi and US governments, a coalition of former FSA brigades - rebranded as the Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF) - launched a surprise offensive against ISIS in the spring of 2014. VICE News was the first western video crew to go into northern Syria for 6 months, embedding with the SRF as they re-imposed their rule over the country's northwestern Idlib province. What we witnessed was a brief window into a complex and morally ambiguous conflict.
- Britain's young Muslims are taking the fight against President Bashir al-Assad from UK towns to the frontlines of Syria. VICE News headed to the civil war-torn country to follow Amer Deghayes, a 20-year-old former student from Brighton, who joined the "holy war" against his father's wishes after carrying out extensive research online. We joined Amer after the death of his 18-year-old brother Abdullah, who died in a fierce battle against Assad forces in northern Syria. Undeterred by the bloody and brutal conflict, Amer's 16-year-old brother Jaffer has since met up with him in Syria. The UK is now attempting to combat, block, and remove thousands of items of "jihadist propaganda" from the internet in an attempt to deter Britons from taking up arms abroad. For Amer, the power of jihadist social media - which promotes stories of jihadi legend, martyrdom, and paradise - opened his eyes to the suffering of Muslims in Syria. England is also now citing returning militants as "the biggest security threat to the United Kingdom." The government's position could leave Amer - and the possibly thousands of unknown British fighters - stranded in increasingly fierce and bloody conflicts, and within the grasp of extremist jihadist groups.
- For almost a decade, Thailand has been trapped in a bloody conflict between supporters and opponents of the tycoon-turned-politician, Thaksin Shinawatra. During his time as prime minister, Thaksin improved life for the poor and the working class, while his autocratic tendencies and crony capitalism led his opponents, mainly made up of royalists and the middle class, to rise up. Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006 for alleged abuse of power and corruption. Since then Thaksin's opponents - widely known as the Yellow Shirts - and his avid supporters, the Red Shirts, have taken turns instigating mass protests to topple their opponents. While attempting to clear her brother's name of corruption charges in November 2013, Thaksin's sister and Thailand's current PM Yingluck Shinawatra triggered a new Yellow Shirt uprising that has so far killed a reported 23 people and injured hundreds. Yingluck Shinawatra tried to diffuse the protests by dissolving Thailand's parliament and calling for new elections. But the Yellows, determined to overthrow her, began a shutdown of Bangkok on January 13th, bringing the capital to a standstill. Since the election was annulled on March 31st, Red Shirts are mobilizing and intensifying their threats of starting a civil war.
- The United Nations announced in 2013 that Peru has overtaken Colombia as the world's top producer of coca, the raw plant material used to manufacture cocaine. For the past two decades, Colombia has been virtually synonymous with cocaine. Now that Peru has become the global epicenter of cocaine production, the Andean nation runs the risk of becoming the world's next great narco state. The Peruvian government is trying to crack down on the problem by ramping up eradication of coca plants, and devoting military and police resources to interdiction efforts. Despite the response - and a hefty amount of foreign aid devoted to combatting cocaine production - Peruvian coke is being consumed in the nightclubs of Lima and in cities around the world like never before. VICE News travels to Peru to learn more about the government's battle plan against cocaine, and to see how nearly every aspect of Peruvian society is caught up in the fight. We witness how the fine, white powder has forced an entire nation to the brink in the global war on drugs.
- In August, al Nusra Front jihadists took control of Syria's side of the border crossing with Israel and kidnapped over 40 United Nations peacekeepers - who have since been released. But al Nusra Front, an al Qaeda-affiliate, isn't Israel's only threat from Syria. President Bashar al-Assad's military, in a possible effort to bait Israel into its civil war to shore up Arab sympathies, has been lobbing mortars across the border. Just a few weeks ago, the Israeli military shot down a Syrian plane flying over the Golan Heights - the first time it has done so since the 1980s. VICE News travels to Israel's "quiet border" in the Golan Heights, where members of al Nusra Front are now a visible threat.
- Throughout the past several months, Jerusalem has been a scene of clashes and violent attacks. Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood just steps away from Jerusalem's Old City, has been at the heart of the unrest, and is becoming one of the most contentious neighborhoods in the most contested city in the world. As settlement expansion into East Jerusalem continues, Israeli authorities have ramped up their practice of demolishing homes built without proper permits - permits which are near impossible for Palestinians to acquire. In addition to the demolitions due to lack of permits, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in early November the reinstatement of the policy of demolishing terrorists' homes, which Palestinians claim is a form of collective punishment. VICE News traveled to Silwan and met with Palestinians and Israelis living in this contested neighborhood at a time when Jerusalem is more divided than ever.
- At 91 per cent, Puerto Rico has the world's highest overall percentage of homicides by firearms. But this statistic hasn't stopped the NRA from setting up shop, establishing their 51st chapter in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico's sky-high murder rates and extremely strict gun laws have only encouraged the association to fight for their constitutional rights, and arm the island with more and more guns. In 2014 alone, gun permit applications doubled, possession of guns tripled, and licenses for shooting ranges quadrupled the previous year's numbers. Vice News traveled to Puerto Rico to look at the rising tide of firearms that are changing the commonwealth and the culture. We met up with street thugs, the Puerto Rican SWAT team, pro-gun advocates, a gun control politician, and a women's gun group, to find out how the NRA's 51st and newest testing ground is working out.
- San Pedro Sula, Honduras, has made it to the top of the list of the world's most dangerous cities (outside of war zones) for three consecutive years, with an annual homicide rate of 187 per 100,000 people. Reporting crime in Honduras is considered a high-risk job - according to the Honduran National Human Rights Committee, at least 47 journalists and media executives have been murdered between 2003 and 2014. VICE News spent four nights alongside Orlin Castro, a young reporter who covers the crimes that occur in the streets of San Pedro - which often result from the never-ending turf war between the 18th Street and MS-13 gangs, two of the city's most notorious criminal groups.
- What really happened at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility on the night of June 9, 2006? According to the US government, three detainees - all imprisoned as part of the global war on terror - hung themselves in their cells that night. But Army Staff Sergeant Joseph Hickman, who was on guard that night at Camp Delta, came to believe something very different: that the three men were murdered in a secret CIA black site at Guantanamo. After leaving the Army, Hickman spent years looking into the deaths. His investigation has led him to write a new book, Murder at Camp Delta. Hickman sat down for the first time on camera with VICE News to tell the story of his investigation and what he learned about what happened that night in 2006.
- In response to last year's Gaza conflict, the Israeli government announced the construction of further settlements in the West Bank - a move condemned by the international community for escalating tensions that were already highly fraught. The expansion of the settlements has consumed privately owned Palestinian land, causing the destruction of Palestinian homes, produce, and livelihoods. Despite Israeli settlements taking up only one percent of land in the West Bank, they now exert control over 42 percent, with settlement boundaries often 10 times larger than the settlements themselves. VICE News traveled to the West Bank to speak to displaced Palestinians and activists who are trying desperately to address the grievances that boiled over with such horrific consequences in 2014.
- Bangladesh's leather industry is worth a billion dollars a year, but that value comes at a significant human cost to the many workers employed in the country's leather tanneries. The process of tanning leather hides is highly toxic. Workers face appalling conditions and are exposed to dangerous chemicals that also pollute surrounding waterways. VICE News correspondent Tania Rashid traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, and visited the tannery district in the city's Hazaribagh neighborhood - ranked by international research organizations as one of the most polluted places on Earth - to investigate the conditions in which workers produce leather that is exported and sold all over the world.
- The Central African Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world, but it is also rich in natural resources. One of the official mining sectors has collapsed amid the country's ongoing conflict, and now both sides are benefitting from the illicit trade of gold and diamonds. Clashes over control of the many mines have also created religious tension in places where there previously had been none. VICE News traveled to mines located in the heart of the Central African Republic to see how the battle over natural resources is playing out in one of the world's most violent conflicts.
- Bangladesh is one of the few Muslim nations where prostitution is legal, and the country's largest brothel is called Daulatdia, where more than 1,500 women and girls sell sex to thousands of men every day. Daulatdia is infamous for drug abuse and underage prostitution, and many of its sex workers are victims of sexual slavery who were trafficked into the area and sold to a pimp or a madam. They are forced to work off the fee that was paid for them, a debt that takes years to clear because they receive as little as a dollar for sex. VICE News correspondent Tania Rashid visited the notorious Bangladeshi brothel - where human trafficking, underage prostitution, and drugs are commonplace - and met the traffickers and the trafficked, as well as the clientele.
- On the International Day for Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, VICE News reports on a little-known surgery that restores sexual function to the clitoris for women who had their genitals mutilated as children. We meet and follow a 32-year-old prospective patient who was mutilated at the age of six in Somalia, and who now lives and works as a nurse in the United States. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural tradition that affects millions of women worldwide. Sometimes referred to as female circumcision or female genital cutting, the practice varies in severity depending on where it is performed. The procedure can range from minor nicks to the clitoris to the total removal of the clitoris and labia. In its severest form, the two sides of the vulva are sewn together, leaving only a small hole for menstruation and urination. While the practice has been outlawed in many of the 29 countries where FGM is concentrated, it persists in some rural areas as a centuries-old cultural tradition, where it is usually performed by women elders as a part of a coming-of-age ritual. The tradition is sometimes believed to "purify" a woman and performed to preserve virginity before marriage. The World Health Organization estimates that some 6,000 girls undergo FGM around the world every day. The procedure is often performed in unsafe and unsanitary conditions on girls between the ages of four and 12. FGM can be fatal, and can lead to immediate complications such as infections and urine retention, as well as long-term complications such as severe pain and tearing during intercourse and major complications during childbirth. VICE News saw the result of the severest form of FGM first-hand in Dr. Marci Bowers' operating room in San Mateo, California, and watched as she performed a defibulation procedure - the re-opening of genitalia that had been sewn shut - and clitoroplasty, the reconstruction and restoration of sexual function to the clitoris.
- February 2014, Ukraine's Euromaidan revolution against the government of Viktor Yanukovych had reached another stalemate after the violence in late January. But on the 18th, massive and fatal clashes broke out between police and protesters outside the Ukrainian parliament building, the Rada. After hours of fierce fighting, the protesters were pushed back onto their last lines of defense in Independence square and just about forced the police back after an attempt to clear the square. Once the dust had settled almost 30 police and protesters had been killed, on a day where firearms were used openly by both sides for the first time. Vice News arrived a day later to a city on lockdown and Independence square resembling a dystopian protest nightmare, fires burning, everything covered in black ash and the protesters themselves looked tired and desperate as a fragile truce held throughout the night. The next day however set of a chain of events that would leave dozens of protesters dead, Yanukovych fleeing the country and the protesters firmly in control of parliament. This film tracks the last days of the Euromaidan revolution, from the mass killings of protesters by the police on 20th February, to the day Yanukovych fled his private estate, leaving behind a wealth of incriminating documents linking him to fraud, corruption and possibly even attempted murder. Within days an interim government, made up of protest figures and opposition MPs was in power and presidential elections were set for the 25th May. However, since the end of the revolution the new government has had to face a nosediving economy, the Russian annexation of Crimea and now a violent bid for independence by pro-Russian separatists in the east. After a violent and chaotic 6 months, the election gives the country a chance to look towards a future of closer links to the EU and a chance to end the corruption that dominates Ukrainian society.
- Last summer, the group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) swept from Syria into northern Iraq, routing Iraqi security forces and seizing the city of Mosul. Soon afterward, the group declared the establishment of a dubious "caliphate" in the area it controls and rebranded itself the Islamic State. With Iraq's army weakened and radical militants advancing on Baghdad, the country's Iran-backed Shia militias - which have their own history of sectarian abuses - fought back, halting the Islamic State's progress. The militias have successfully combated Islamic State fighters on the ground with the assistance of air strikes from a US-led military coalition. But their growing influence within Iraq's government amid accusations that they have harmed Sunnis in areas that they control has led many to fear that the militias threaten the country's fragile sectarian and political balance. VICE News traveled to Iraq in December to witness firsthand how Shia militias are taking the fight to the Islamic State, and to document the fallout of their controversial rise to power.
- Coal ash, which contains many of the world's worst carcinogens, is what's left over when coal is burnt for electricity. An estimated 113 million tons of coal ash are produced annually in the US, and stored in almost every state - some of it literally in people's backyards. With very little government oversight and few safeguards in place, toxic chemicals have been known to leak from these storage sites and into nearby communities, contaminating drinking water and making residents sick. VICE News travels across the US to meet the people and visit the areas most affected by this toxic waste stream. Since coal production is predicted to remain steady for the next few decades, coal ash will be a problem that will affect the US for years to come.
- During the devastating 50-day war in Israel and Gaza this past summer, around 18,000 homes in Gaza were destroyed or severely damaged, leaving around 120,000 residents homeless. Now, with trouble in neighboring Sinai and infighting between Palestinian factions, reconstruction efforts in the beleaguered Gaza Strip are moving slowly. With the UN warning of a growing humanitarian crisis for the people of Gaza, many fear that another armed conflict is imminent. Six months after the end of fighting, VICE News returns to the region to investigate the progress on reconstruction.
- The bitter conflict in Ukraine has cost thousands of lives, but the Russian government has continuously denied sending its soldiers to the frontlines, despite accusations to the contrary from NATO and Western officials. Since August 2014, a small but steady stream of coffins began arriving in villages across Russia, containing the maimed bodies of soldiers killed in "unknown circumstances." Some would be buried hastily at night or in secret funerals, their graves zealously guarded from prying outsiders. Journalists investigating the deaths have reported being threatened with intimidation and attacks. In cases that the Kremlin could not so easily ignore, the dead or injured have been hailed as "volunteers" who entered Ukraine on leave from the army - heroes who fought unofficially for the freedom of their Russian-speaking brethren. VICE News travels to Russia to investigate the mysterious deaths of dozens - possibly hundreds - of active-duty Russian servicemen who are believed to have been killed in Ukraine. Accounts gathered from soldiers' families, human rights workers, and government officials cast doubt on the Kremlin narrative, revealing the unacknowledged sacrifices borne by Russia's ghost army.
- The brutal beheadings of Japanese nationals Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa by the Islamic State in January have shocked the island nation and lent momentum to an effort to expand the limitations imposed on its constitution and military after its defeat by the United States in World War II. Leftists in Japan fear that the incident will encourage a departure from the country's pacifist constitution, whose Article 9 states that "the Japanese people forever renounce... the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes." Right-wingers, meanwhile, see an opportunity to allow Japan to assert itself as a truly sovereign state. In the wake of the Islamic State beheadings, VICE News reports from Japan, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to re-militarize the pacifist nation has inspired protests from the left.
- The biggest financial issue currently facing young Americans is not the decline of manufacturing jobs or the housing collapse, but mounting student debt. To tackle this issue, VICE hosted a roundtable discussion, moderated by VICE founder Shane Smith, with President Barack Obama and five students who discussed the challenges surrounding student debt and the pursuit of higher education in the US.
- North and South Korea are, both legally and philosophically, in a state of war. While the guns may be silent, the conflict between the two countries has now become one of propaganda. With the assistance of the Human Rights Foundation, North Korean defectors now in South Korea have been launching hydrogen-filled balloons across the 38th parallel - carrying both money and propaganda. In late 2014, a balloon launch sparked a brief exchange of gunfire between North and South Korean soldiers, and even more recently, Pyongyang has promised that hellfire will rain on South Korea if any copies of the controversial Hollywood comedy The Interview make it across the border. VICE News traveled to Seoul to meet frontline soldiers in this information war - and to attend a clandestine launch of propaganda balloons into the Hermit Kingdom.
- There's a resource curse on the Navajo Nation. The 27,000-square-mile reservation straddling parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah has an extremely high abundance of many energy resources - particularly coal. That coal is what's burned to provide much of the Southwest with electricity, and it creates jobs for the Navajo. But the mining and burning have also caused environmental degradation, serious health issues, and displacement. VICE News travels to the Navajo Nation to find out how its abundance of coal is affecting the future of the Navajo people.
- The war in eastern Ukraine hasn't just been about territory - religion has deepened the divide. In Donetsk, Protestants are being forced to conduct their services in apartments, persecuted by pro-Russia separatists who believe there's only room for one religion in the region: Russian Orthodoxy. VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky traveled to Donetsk to attend secret Protestant churches, and spoke with members of the Donetsk People's Republic as well as the Orthodox Church to find out whether the DPR's vision for the rebel-controlled region includes the coexistence of religious beliefs.
- As Libya descends further into civil war and lawlessness, migrants from Africa and the Middle East continue to journey to the country's coast in search of smugglers to take them across the Mediterranean Sea and into Europe. Search and rescue operations by Libya's coast guard are restricted due to diminishing resources, and have to contend with dangerous gangs of armed traffickers. Those rescued at sea by the coast guard are brought to detention centers, where they face deplorable conditions and are forced to remain for long periods of time. In some instances, migrants are detained by militias in unofficial prisons outside of government control. VICE News gains access to chilling footage from the Libyan coast guard and travels to detention centers in Libya, where we hear migrants speak of torture and serious human rights violations.
- A pipeline network more than 2.5 million miles long transports oil and natural gas throughout the United States - but a top official in the federal government's pipeline safety oversight agency admits that the regulatory process is overstretched and "kind of dying." A recent spike in the number of spills illustrates the problem: the Department of Transportation recorded 73 pipeline-related accidents in 2014, an 87 percent increase over 2009. Despite calls for stricter regulations over the last few years, the rules governing the infrastructure have largely remained the same. Critics say that this is because of the oil industry's cozy relationship with regulators, and argue that violations for penalties are too low to compel compliance. VICE News traveled to Glendive, Montana, to visit the site of a pipeline spill that dumped more than 50,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River, to find out why the industry has such weak regulatory oversight.
- In early March, while the world was watching Iraqi government forces advance on the Islamic State (IS) in Tikrit, IS was launching a series of assaults on what little remains of the Government-held parts of the provincial capital, Ramadi, which has been under siege for over a year. On the morning of 11 March alone - the first day VICE News spent in Ramadi - nearly two dozen IS car bombs were detonated, killing 10 and injuring 60. In a series of interviews, Iraqi officials told VICE News that they fear Islamic State fighters will overrun what remains of Government-held Ramadi if the US did not intervene with air support. According to police in Ramadi, more than 2,000 officers have been killed since January 2014, when the Islamic State - then known mainly as ISIS or ISIL - first announced its presence in the city. VICE News spent three days in Ramadi documenting civilian life and interviewing Iraqi officials, as the town remains under siege from the Islamic State.
- Peru is now the world's main supplier of coca, the raw plant material used to manufacture cocaine. In the last five years, coca production has grown the most in the tri-border region, an area deep in the Amazon where Colombia, Brazil and Peru meet. The tri-border region is home to a messianic sect with apocalyptic beliefs whose members dress in biblical robes. Known as "Israelites," the religious group migrated to the Peruvian Amazon in 1995 in search of a promised land that's now infested with coca plantations. VICE News traveled to Alto Monte de Israel, the sacred land of the Israelites, to meet them and understand how they cope with the existence of coca crops on their land, and whether they're involved in the drug trade.
- In 2007, John Kiriakou became the first Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official to publicly confirm that agency interrogators waterboarded a high-value detainee, terrorism suspect Abu Zubaydah - a revelation that had previously been a closely guarded secret. Five years after this unauthorized disclosure to ABC News, the veteran CIA officer pleaded guilty to leaking to journalists the identity of certain individuals who were involved with the CIA's rendition, detention, and interrogation program. He was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison. VICE News caught up with Kiriakou for a wide-ranging interview just a few days after he was released from prison. He detailed how his CIA training became a technique for survival behind bars, and how the government turned him into a "dissident."
- America's relationship with its mentally ill population continues to suffer as a result of inadequacies in the country's mental health care system. For the mentally ill in Chicago, the effects of this inadequacy are felt on a magnified scale, as budget cuts and a lack of community-based mental health resources have left these individuals with minimal support. More often than not, this means being repeatedly swept up into the criminal justice system for low-level, non-violent crimes VICE News takes an immersive look at this issue by going inside the Cook County Jail and speaking with community members on Chicago's south side.